Method for producing aluminum-armored cables



Aug. 19, 1 2 w. G. REYNOLDS METHOD FOR PRODUCING ALUMINUM-ARMORED CABLES 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Filed July 13, 1949 INVENTOR. 4 4.44% & fqn l,

19, 1 I w. G. REYNOLDS $607,109

METHOD FOR PRODUCING ALUMINUM-ARMORED CABLES Filed July 13, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Aug. 19, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT V v 2,607,109: L 7 j FOR Paonuome f Y.

ABMQRED CABLES; Y William. G. Ramses, Louisville- Kg, assign. it 7 l pant, a corpora'tioni oi v METHOD Reynolds Metals Com Delaware Application ul -1s, 1949; seriarne. 104,555

1 The object of this invention is to provide an effective method for producing aluminum armored steel cable, that is to say, a composite cable, in which the application of the aluminum tothe generally ferrous core iseffected by pressurewelding at high speed, and in such manner that many aluminum amored cables may be produced simultaneously, with the armoring aluminum initially in the form of opposed sheets which blanket the cables. These sheets will in practice be webs fed from coils through cleansing, pre-forming, heating, pressure, slitting, and drawing zones. The invention is, of course, applicable to the encasing or armoring of strands having various gauges and composed of various metals.

3 Claims. ,(o1. 29-15542)- Toinitially show the nature of theprocess and the elements employed, reference may be: madeto Fig. l, which is a schematicviewl- Two coils of aluminum sheet are indicated at l and 2,. as car riedon drums 3 supported by shafts 4. Qu et J shaft 5 are a plurality of drums 6 each carrying:

a coil of wire or-cablje 'l. It is assumed-forthe purposes or -1 that six =cils' or wire willbe" carried by six drums-'fmounted torotate on shaft'5'.""'

r The aluminum sheets l rand 2m and the' wir'e strands Ta: move" to the right-simultaneously, thewire strandsleeing laterally spaced by guiding rolls 8; one set'of rolls for each wire, as showttm Fig. 2. The wire strands pass through draw dies indicated at 9 and-"I O", and'thence between The-invention will be described with reference tothe accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1- is a schematic view in elevation, indicatlng'the stations and elements through which the-aluminum sheet webs and the wire or cables are passed. i

Fig. la. is a fragmentary plan view, taken at the feed-end of. the machine, the aluminum uppermostisheet beingbrokenaway'.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation showing the wireguiding rolls.

Fig- 3. is a view in elevation showing a set of the pre-forming, rollsfor the top aluminum sheet or web.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in elevation showing the welding rolls, with wire strands between them, portions of the backing rolls, and upper and lower aluminum sheets, the latter being shown in section.

Fig. is a fragmentary view in elevation showa s ie ing one form of the slitter wheels and their separated encased wires preliminary to their 45 passage through drawing or forming dies to remove the lips.

Fig. 9 is a cross section taken through an encased completed cable.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary view in section show- 50 ing one formation of the two aluminum sheets before the welding operation and at an area for encasing two wires.

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 10 showin the said sheet areas in their subsequent welded 55 form.

' the wire lcir'ushes H; i From the brushes the drawn and cleansed wire moves on. to welding" rolls I21- v I The aluminum sheets wand-2 drawn m.

the coilsthereof may'pass through sets of special' forming rolls" [3: and-I41: The forming'rollsi I3 act upon the top aluminum:- sheet Ix to corru gate. it longitudinally in the" manner show-net the top of Figxl'o. 'lhe lower set"offorming rolls provide deep lengitudinal channels in sheet zm'ye'ach for the reception of one ofthe wires. After leaving the sets of forming rolls lrs'and t4; the opposed faces of the sheets are cleaned by wire brusheslt, the sheets being supported by back -up rolls H5. The sheets are: led to sets oi? guiding rolls l1 and then reach. a formed scraper i8 which removes any remaining oxide on their inner faces. The lower edge of the scraper will have the channel form of the sheet 29:, and the upper margin of the scraper will have a wavy configuration.

After leaving the scraper zone, the two aluminum sheets, in their form as shownin Fig. 10 will be pressure welded to encase the wire strands, and for this purpose will be passed between the welding rolls I2, the latter having backing rolls I2ar, from which the welded composite structure is passed to the slitting wheels [9. Each wire strand will have its aluminum casing with short lips as shown in Fig. 8. To remove the said lips the aluminum encased wire strands are passed through a succession of forming dies 20 which progressively draw the lips down to form a wire-strand encasing layer of aluminum which, in its tubular form, will have equal thickness throughout. After being cooled the armored wire is wound upon drums or reels 2|. Before being wound onto the reels 2| the hot wire may be cooled by sprays of water as indicated by the spray devices 22.

The welding of the aluminum casing elements is acc mplished by hot deformation, with the contacting surfaces free from oil and thoroughly cleansed, and preferably slightly roughened by the action of the wire brushes and the scraper blades. An operative temperature range will be 600-900 F. The pressure will exceed several tons and preferably will range from about 25,090

to 70,000 pounds per square inch according to the thickness of the aluminum sheets. The reduction of cross-sectional area should be from 10 to 30 per cent. The aluminum sheets ix, 23: may be heated in any suitable manner, but I prefer to heat them by flame pipes or electrical resistance, somewhat close to the welding rolls, and in the drawings I have indicated such flame pipes at 23.

The welding rolls themselves may be heated to a. degree high than that acquired by conduction from the hot aluminum sheets, and in order to prevent heat absorption from'the sheets and to maintain a predetermined and desired temperature in the sheets themselves at the instant of welding. Also the heated welding rolls may be used to supplement the heat in the aluminum sheets.

The form of the aluminum sheets at the in stant of meeting and forming a blanket for the wire strands may be widely varied from the-forms shown in Fig. 10. Thus the upper and loweralu minum sheets maybe longitudinally corrugated as'at the top of Fig. 10, 'and-in'reverse. It also will be understood that when the armoris to be relatively thin in thickness pre-forming may be eliminated.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the form andarrangement of the elements shown in the drawings as illustrative of the invention, and also in the sequence of steps without departing from thespirit of the inventlon. Thus, if desired, relatively narrow strips of the sheet can be produced by pre-slittinggand upper and lower tape-like aluminum members will form an encasement for a single wire or cable, .my preferred method, .however, being as above specified. f

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

I 1. The method of continuously applying a noncorrosive metal covering to ferrous cable com- 5 prising advancing continuously a plurality of spaced ferrous wire intermediate two continuously advancing relatively thin bands of noncorrosive metal advancing at the same speed as the said wire, heating said thin bands of metal, compressing said heated thin metal bands onto said plurality of wires continuously by means of rollers adapted-to receive saidfwires and heated thin bands of'metal, slitting the compressed thin double walled bands intermediate the covered wires to produce a plurality of armored wires having protruding lips on opposite sides of said armored wires, and drawing said armored wire through dies to reduce the said protruding lips to a smooth circular covering.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the thin band of non-corrosive'metal is aluminum and wherein the temperature of the thin metal band is between about 600 F. to about 900 F. and the pressure of compressing the bands onto the ferrous wire is from about 25,000 lbs. to about 70,000 lbs. per square inch. Q if: s 17 3. The method of claim 1 wherein. the two thin non-corrosive metal bands are complemently shaped to receive a ferrous wire prior to being heated and compressed between rollers.

WILLIAM G. REYNOLDS.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS. 7

- Date Number Name 155,180 Coes Sept. 22, 1874 867,658 Hoopes et a1 Oct. 8, 1907' 1,124,755 Lloyd Jan. 12,1915 1,124,763 Lloyd Jan. 12, 1915 1,184,973 Lloyd May 30, 1916 1,326,912 Cary Jan. 6,=,1'920 1,792,377 Jordan .1 Feb. 10,1931 1,797,289 Kotchi Mar. 24, 1931 1,812,646 Burd June 30, 1931 1,845,155 Jordan Febplfi, 1932 1,876,953 Johnson Sept. 13, 1932 2,088,446 Specht July 27, 1937 2,158,656 Frank May 16, 1939 2,375,068 Bennett May 1, 1945 2,382,384 Cito Aug. 14, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date I 513,665 France N0vf5, 1920 

